Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 02 - Vacation is Murder (14 page)

Four’s A Crowd

DAREN KEPT HIS GUN AIMED on Sean and Earl, his hold tight on Sara. “We can’t fault Earl. He was being an opportunist.”

“Surprised you know the word. Although, I suppose you are one as well,” Sean said, his thoughts on the fact that Daren had managed to get a gun past security.

“
Tisk
, Mr. McKinley. You should be kinder to the man who holds your wife’s life in his hands.”

He pulled Sara to him, despite her struggle to retain distance, burrowing his face into the groove of her neck.

In this time, Sean gestured toward Earl, directing him to do something, and then nodded toward Sara. He had a plan.

“She even smells nice after spending the night in a motel. People like you wouldn’t be used to those types of accommodations.”

“Let her go. You can have the fifty thousand.” Sean nodded his head toward the bag in Earl’s hands.

Earl scowled.

“That’s a great start, but I’ve realized I have more expenses to cover. The one million that Earl requested would work out perfectly for me.”

He took a few steps back with Sara.

Sean and Earl stepped in sync with them.

“You should be more careful, Daren,” Sean said.

“So impressed. You know who I am. I’m flattered.”

“You’re going to prison for the man you murdered.”

“Ah, see, but that’s where you’re wrong. No one is going to prison. I’ve always found my own justice and I’ve always gotten away with it.”

“Not according to your record.”

Daren didn’t comment, but kept stepping back.

He must have been leery of being so far into the jungle. Like Sean’s thinking, why tempt Mother Nature?

With each step Sara took, Sean controlled his impulse to wince. Without her being able to watch where her feet fell, she placed herself at risk.

“Earl, put the money on the ground in front of you. Let Daren take it,” Sean said.

Daren grinned as he motioned for Sara to retrieve the bag, his gun trained on her.

“Not one stray move from any of you. Stay back.”

Sara returned to him.

“Very good. Now you hold on to the bag, sweetheart. And, Mr. McKinley, we’ll be leaving now. Your wife will send you the necessary account information once we’re in a safe spot. Stay here for three minutes before coming out, or your wife will die.”

Sara made eye contact with Sean. There was a hint of fear in her retinas, but there was also the ignited fire of a detective who would stop her man. She blinked deliberately. Her eyes opening with the silent communication that she would be all right.

“You better put the gun away or you’ll be in a lot of crap when we hit the clearing,” Sara said.

Her heart beat rapidly as she waited for the opportune moment to act on Sean’s silent directions. She prayed she had understood him correctly.

Daren ran a hand down the length of her hair. “Beautiful and smart. We’ll have to spend some time getting to know each other.”

“I respectfully decline.”

“Oh, you like to play hard to get.”

The way he took her in, eyeing her rapaciously, sent spikes of adrenaline crackling through her body. She was trained to protect herself, and if it meant killing this man, she wouldn’t hesitate.

“You’ll hold my hand,” he said.

His touch roiled her stomach. She had to figure out the perfect time to strike—and she had to ensure no one was around when she did.

Sean pressed his finger into Earl’s chest. It took all of his self-control not to drill his fist into Earl’s face. “Sara’s life is in danger because of you. If she’s hurt—even gets so much as a scratch—I will repay the favor tenfold.”

Earl wouldn’t make eye contact. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

“That’s right. You didn’t think. You have money problems? Big deal. Going back a month I lived paycheck to paycheck.”

Sean took large strides toward the clearing.

“It hasn’t been three minutes.” Earl’s voice was filled with panic.

“No, it hasn’t, but there’s a difference between us, Earl. I love my wife and I’m not going to let her die.”

“I love my wife too.” Earl sputtered the words.

“We’ll see how she feels after she finds everything out.”

“I didn’t mean for all of this to happen. If only I had money in the first place. I was thinking of Cathy. She’ll never forgive me, will she?”

“I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t. This is all happening because you got greedy. And, you said you did all of this for Cathy and Amelia. Well Amelia’s dead.” Sean pointed ahead to the clearing. “Daren, the man who has my wife, shot her.”

Earl buckled to his knees. “She’s dead?”

“Yes, Earl, and it’s probably because she warned you and you went missing.”

“Oh God.”

Sean kept walking. He didn’t care about the sadness emanating from the man. The only thing he could think about was Sara. Did she get his message?

Look, Don’t Touch

SWEAT POURED DOWN SARA’S BACK and her throat felt stitched shut with dryness. Daren was leading her around the perimeter of the ruins and it made her thankful for the privacy. It would make it easier to act when the time came, and that would be soon.

“Y’ouch. Oh, I have to stop,” she said.

“No, we keep moving.”

“I promise I’ll walk, but my sandals are—” Sara slowed her pace, struggling to reach her feet, as she kept moving.

Daren jerked on her arm. “Keep moving.”

“They are bunching on my toes.” She hobbled along, balancing herself on Daren’s shoulder, the opposite leg lifted and bent. “Maybe if you support me, I can make it back like this.”

She was hoping that he was as uncomfortable from the heat as she was—she had never been this hot in her life.

“You have two seconds.”

“Oh. Thank you. Thank you.”

Daren rolled his eyes as he let her go.

She bent down, placing the money bag on the ground beside her, quickly looking around. There were a few tourists, but they were far enough away. She glanced up at Daren. He wasn’t looking at her but staring somewhere off in the distance. She reached into the bag and searched around. Her fingertips grazed the handle.

“That’s long enough, lady. Time to go.” He yanked up on her, pulling her arm from the bag.

She came out with the knife held firmly, the blade glistening in the sun. Its reflection must have hit him in the eyes. He squinted and his stance faltered.

She didn’t have time to look behind them, but she heard the footfalls—Sean was coming.

Sean saw them, not more than twenty feet ahead. He closed the distance quickly, happy that he was in good physical shape. He tackled Daren from behind, pulling him to the ground, but Daren landed on top.

They rolled on the grass, teasing the edge of the jungle but they righted themselves to stay in the clearing.

Daren straddled Sean. “This is the second time in twenty hours, but this time I’m going to kill you.” Daren reached for his gun.

“Sean,” Sara yelled.

He got a blurry view of his surroundings as he tussled with Daren. Earl was standing beside Sara—no longer a threat. They were mere feet away from a cordoned-off ruin.

He found strength and landed a hard blow to Daren’s jaw that had the man howling like a wounded animal.

Daren retreated, swaying back, still over Sean.

Punching his kidneys, Sean alternated left and right until the man toppled off him, then shot to his feet. “Run, darling,” he said to Sara.

She took off, with Earl following behind her.

Sean turned around to face Daren, who was coming at him like a raging football player. He grounded his stance, bent in the knee, ready to receive the tackle.

Daren made contact, shoving his body into Sean’s torso, but he hunched farther down and lifted, causing Daren to fly over Sean’s head and come to land on the other side of the rope.

Militia came out of the jungle, yelling in Spanish, waving around AK47s, all of them trained on Daren.